The Myrmidons

The Myrmidons were the soldiers of Achilles in the Trojan war.>From them all zealous and unscrupulous followers of a politicalchief are called by that name down to this day. But the originof the Myrmidons would not give one the idea of a fierce andbloody race, but rather of a laborious and peaceful one.

Cephalus, king of Athens, arrived in the island of AEgina to seekassistance of his old friend and ally AEacus, the king, in hiswars with Minos, king of Crete. Cephalus was kindly received,and the desired assistance readily promised. "I have peopleenough," said AEacus, "to protect myself and spare you such aforce as you need." "I rejoice to see it," replied Cephalus,"and my wonder has been raised, I confess, to find such a host ofyouths as I see around me, all apparently of about the same age.Yet there are many individuals whom I previously knew that I lookfor now in vain. What has become of them?" AEacus groaned, andreplied with a voice of sadness, "I have been intending to tellyou, and will now do so without more delay, that you may see howfrom the saddest beginning a happy result sometimes flows. Thosewhom you formerly knew are now dust and ashes! A plague sent byangry Juno devastated the land. She hated it because it bore thename of one of her husband's female favorites. While the diseaseappeared to spring from natural causes we resisted it as we bestmight by natural remedies; but it soon appeared that thepestilence was too powerful for our efforts, and we yielded. Atthe beginning the sky seemed to settle down upon the earth, andthick clouds shut in the heated air. For four months together adeadly south wind prevailed. The disorder affected the wells andsprings; thousands of snakes crept over the land and shed theirpoison in the fountains. The force of the disease was firstspent on the lower animals; dogs, cattle, sheep, and birds. Theluckless ploughman wondered to see his oxen fall in the midst oftheir work, and lie helpless in the unfinished furrow. The woolfell from the bleating sheep, and their bodies pined away. Thehorse, once foremost in the race, contested the palm no more, butgroaned at his stall, and died an inglorious death. The wildboar forgot his rage, the stag his swiftness, the bears no longerattacked the herds. Everything languished; dead bodies lay inthe roads, the fields, and the woods; the air was poisoned bythem. I tell you what is hardly credible, but neither dogs norbirds would touch them, nor starving wolves. Their decay spreadthe infection. Next the disease attacked the country people, andthen the dwellers in the city. At first the cheek was flushed,and the breath drawn with difficulty. The tongue grew rough andswelled, and the dry mouth stood open with its veins enlarged andgasped for the air. Men could not bear the heat of their clothesor their beds, but preferred to lie on the bare ground; and theground did not cool them, but on the contrary, they heated thespot where they lay. Nor could the physicians help, for thedisease attacked them also, and the contact of the sick gave theminfection, so that the most faithful were the first victims. Atlast all hope of relief vanished and men learned to look upondeath as the only deliverer from disease. Then they gave way toevery inclination, and cared not to ask what was expedient, fornothing was expedient. All restraint laid aside, they crowdedaround the wells and fountains, and drank till they died, withoutquenching thirst. Many had not strength to get away from thewater, but died in the midst of the stream, and others woulddrink of it notwithstanding. Such was their weariness of theirsick-beds that some would creep forth, and if not strong enoughto stand, would die on the ground. They seemed to hate theirfriends, and got away from their homes, as if, not knowing thecause of their sickness, they charged it on the place of theirabode. Some were seen tottering along the road, as long as theycould stand, while others sank on the earth, and turned theirdying eyes around to take a last look, then closed them in death.

"What heart had I left me, during all this, or what ought I tohave had, except to hate life and wish to be with my deadsubjects? On all sides lay my people strewn like over-ripenedapples beneath the tree, or acorns under the storm-shaken oak.You see yonder s temple on the height. It is sacred to Jupiter.Oh, how many offered prayers there; husbands for wives, fathersfor sons, and died in the very act of supplication! How often,while the priest made ready for sacrifice, the victim fell,struck down by disease without waiting for the blow. At lengthall reverence for sacred things was lost. Bodies were thrown outunburied, wood was wanting for funeral piles, men fought with oneanother for the possession of them. Finally there were none leftto mourn; sons and husbands, old men and youths, perished alikeunlamented.

"Standing before the altar I raised my eyes to heaven. 'Oh,Jupiter,' I said, 'if thou art indeed my father, and art notashamed of thy offspring, give me back my people, or take me alsoaway!' At these words a clap of thunder was heard. 'I acceptthe omen,' I cried; 'oh, may it be a sign of a favorabledisposition towards me!' By chance there grew by the place whereI stood an oak with wide-spreading branches, sacred to Jupiter.I observed a troop of ants busy with their labor, carrying minutegrains in their mouths and following one another in a line up thetrunk of the tree. Observing their numbers with admiration, Isaid, 'Give me, oh father, citizens as numerous as these, andreplenish my empty city.' The tree shook and gave a rustlingsound with its branches though no wind agitated them. I trembledin every limb, yet I kissed the earth and the tree. I would notconfess to myself that I hoped, yet I did hope. Night came onand sleep took possession of my frame oppressed with cares. Thetree stood before me in my dreams, with its numerous branches allcovered with living, moving creatures. It seemed to shake itslimbs and throw down over the ground a multitude of thoseindustrious grain-gathering animals, which appeared to gain insize, and grow larger, and by-and-by to stand erect, lay asidetheir superfluous legs and their black color, and finally toassume the human form. Then I awoke, and my first impulse was tochide the gods who had robbed me of a sweet vision and given meno reality in its place. Being still in the temple my attentionwas caught by the sound of many voices without; a sound of lateunusual to my ears. While I began to think I was yet dreaming,Telamon, my son, throwing open the temple-gates, exclaimed,'Father, approach, and behold things surpassing even your hopes!'I went forth; I saw a multitude of men, such as I had seen in mydream, and they were passing in procession in the same manner.While I gazed with wonder and delight they approached, andkneeling, hailed me as their king. I paid my vows to Jove, andproceeded to allot the vacant city to the new-born race, and toparcel out the fields among them. I called them Myrmidons fromthe ant (myrmex), from which they sprang. You have seen thesepersons; their dispositions resemble those which they had intheir former shape. They are a diligent and industrious race,eager to gain, and tenacious of their gains. Among them you mayrecruit your forces. They will follow you to the war, young inyears and bold in heart."

This description of the plague is copied by Ovid from the accountwhich Thucydides, the Greek historian, gives of the plague ofAthens. The historian drew from life, and all the poets andwriters of fiction since his day, when they have had occasion todescribe a similar scene, have borrowed their details from him.